She beamed at smile at the alien, but Eron had eyes only for Azrael.
‘Technician, the gallu appears to be active. Is that wise?’ Eron drew in closer but, Blake noted, kept distance between himself and the prone carapace.
‘He’s contained. There’s no need for concern.’ Blake’s stomach made an unpleasant gurgling sound, as though resoundingly disagreeing. ‘And you are here. Added security, in the highly unlikely event we might need it.’
Spoken with confidence she didn’t truly feel. She hadn’t slept since the Meld, her mind churning over and over what she’d witnessed. A mind she was beginning to doubt. Blake’s gaze darted to Azrael’s fingertips. There was some movement beginning there as well. Sculpted, slender fingers. Genuine keratin made up the fingernails. But they would never grow. The humanness of Azrael was a mirage. But it was what lay at the core that she wanted so badly to see again. Wanted her sister to witness. Kira was the most human person Blake knew. And she called things completely as she saw them. If Blake doubted her own mind, she did not doubt Kira’s.
Azrael’s movements grew more pronounced.
‘Step back, Kira,’ Blake said. The alien metal, Telteriun, was dense, and the carapaces were easily half a tonne in weight. Eron was keeping too great a distance to shield her if anything untoward happened. Blake cursed her decision not to cuff Azrael’s ankles. These kind of oversights were growing more pronounced.
Kira actually did as she was told and moved a few steps back, while Eron edged to the foot of the bench. Azrael’s mouth opened. Then closed again, hard, with an audible crack of teeth. Blake frowned at the thought of what that pressure might do to the ceramic teeth installed in his jaw. His right leg jerked, bending slightly at the knee. His arms stiffened straight, and his fingers splayed, as though a mild seizure were making its way through his limbs. But his eyes did not open.
‘Come on,’ Blake breathed. ‘Let us see you.’
Before last night, when Tamas had stepped into those dark waters out in the chamber, Blake had been certain of herself and her purpose. This was all just tech, incredibly advanced and stupefying perhaps, but artificial nonetheless. Ultimately understandable.
Azrael opened his eyes. A vibrant mix of green and rusty brown, just as she had made them. But they were still, fixed on one point. Not really seeing.
‘And the boy has pretty eyes, too.’ Kira’s voice wavered. ‘B, is your little friend supposed to be doing this?’
‘Yes.’
He was. Just technically not yet. Not without the captain and the full contingent of Syranians present. Blake took Azrael’s chin between her fingers, moving his head side to side, trying to get the eyes to focus. She did not realise that Kira had stepped up to the table until Eron cautioned her.
‘I believe that is close enough, Kira. Please keep your distance,’ he said.
‘You keep yours,’ Kira sniffed.
Azrael wrenched his left arm free of the restraint, snapping the cuff as though it were made of candy, and grabbed Kira’s jacket. She made a strangled sound as he wrenched her forward.
‘Fuck me!’ Kira cried, falling across Azrael’s chest, face buried in his shoulder.
Eron dove forward, grabbing Kira’s waist. ‘Blake, immobilise the gallu!’ he shouted.
But she didn’t need any instruction. Blake raced back to the control panel, her hip catching the corner of the bench and the impact making her wince.
‘Christ almighty, Blake. Do something.’ Kira struggled against the arm pressing her down, managing to lift her head, which put her almost cheek to cheek with Azrael, who had, so far, thankfully not utilised his unbound legs. ‘Let me go, robot. Lemme go. This is fucking rude –’
Kira fell silent. Blake’s head jerked up, her heart thumping a mad beat against her chest. For a terrible second, she thought Kira had been silenced.
She had, but not in the way Blake feared.
Kira held up her metal hand to ward back Eron, whose face was creased with angry concern. Azrael still held her, but the embrace was no longer oppressive, allowing Kira to edge back enough so that she leaned over him, her face just above his. A sound came from Azrael’s mouth. A strangled push of air that might have been a groan. His gaze zigzagged through the air around Kira’s face. Beginning to focus. Blake’s fingers rested on the control panel. One press and she would render the carapace immovable. But she hesitated.
‘Hey, buddy. Wanna let me go?’ Kira’s voice dipped low in the silent room. Gentle. Intimate. Blake glanced at the keys beneath her fingers, oddly uncomfortable.
A louder, more urgent groan escaped Azrael, and in an instant the quiet moment was shattered. He jerked his body, hips lifting and the waistband of his pants slipping down low over his pelvis. He pushed Kira away, and his strength saw her catapult across the room. She let the world know what she thought of Blake’s creation as she went, crashing into the far wall.
‘Kira!’ Blake cried.
But Azrael wasn’t done. He swung his legs off the table, throwing his full body weight against the last remaining cuff. It might as well have been made of tinfoil.
In just a few seconds chaos had taken over the room.
‘The inhibitors!’ Eron threw himself against Azrael, forcing him back down to the table.
‘Kira?’ Blake couldn’t see her sister over the struggling pair, but there was no answer. Her body shook, her legs barely able to hold her as her fingers flew over the keypad. Christ, what had she done? Familiar warning signals blasted her. Inhibitor levels were too high, but she wanted them higher. They needed to be higher. She looked up. Eron had Azrael face down against the stainless-steel tabletop, bending Azrael’s free arm up behind his back like a highway cop making an arrest. Azrael lifted his head, strands of his dark hair across his face.
Forest-green eyes met hers. Actually zeroed
